Nanny Next Door (15 page)

By eleven-thirty Daniel was in agony. He made a production out of yawning and said, “I’m beat.”

“It is getting late,” Angie said. “Maybe we should call it a night.”

Sydney couldn’t get off his lap fast enough. She must have been as eager to go upstairs as he was, but like him, she probably hadn’t wanted to be rude.

“I’ll go put April to bed,” Sydney said, and lifted April from her bouncy seat, where she’d been sleeping soundly since ten.

Daniel hung back to help douse the fire, then he, Jordan and Jason carried the chairs back up to the porch, while Lacey and Angie brought in the hot chocolate cups and sticky marshmallow skewers.

When everything was cleaned up, and all the doors locked, he said good-night and headed upstairs. The bedroom door was closed, so he knocked softly.

“Come in,” she said in a loud whisper. He opened the door to find the room dark and Sydney already in bed. He reached to turn on a lamp but she whispered, “Don’t. You might wake her. She’s restless.”

He closed the door as quietly as possible and tiptoed to the side of the bed. “Are you naked under there?”

She smiled and lifted up the covers. Oh, yeah.

He shed his clothes and climbed in beside her, wincing as the bed creaked under his weight. “Man, that’s loud.”

“Then we’ll just have to do something that doesn’t require a lot of movement,” Sydney said with a smile that said she already had something in mind. She carefully sat up, trying to make the least noise possible, and threw a leg over him, straddling his thighs. He was about to ask how she thought this would be a quieter alternative, but then she kissed him. His mouth, his chin, the side of his neck. Then she started working her way lower. Down his chest, then his stomach, until it was clear where she was going with this.

She circled her hand around his erection, leaning over, and he felt the heat her breath…then April started to cry.

He cursed.

“I’ll try propping her bottle up,” Sydney said, crawling off the bed and walking to the crib, trying to get April to settle down, while he lay there in agony. After a minute April quieted, and Sydney crept back to the bed, but the second she leaned on the mattress, and it creaked, the baby jolted awake again.

Sydney sighed and sagged in defeat. “Why do I get the feeling she’s not going to let us have any fun.”

“She’s in a strange place, in an unfamiliar bed. I guess we should have expected this.” Daniel grabbed his boxers from the floor and pulled them on. April wasn’t in full-blown hysterics yet, but if he let it go that far she would wake the whole house. “Give her to me.”

Sydney lifted the baby out of the crib and handed her to Daniel.

“Hey, munchkin,” he said, stretching out on his side and laying her down beside him, with her back to his chest and she calmed right down. He had the feeling he would be pretty much stuck like this for the rest of the night.

Sydney slipped into a pair of panties and a T-shirt and climbed into bed, lying on her side facing him. “Maybe tomorrow?”

He reached over and took her hand. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Besides, it’s not like we didn’t already make love this morning.”

“Twice.” And every day for the past week. Maybe they were getting spoiled.

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” she said.

“Groping me?”

She smiled. “That, too. But I meant in general. Just hanging out with Angie and Jason. He’s a great guy.”

“Hmm.”

“I don’t understand why you don’t like him. You should at least try for Angie’s sake. She’s crazy about him.”

“I don’t trust him. He’s
too
nice. Just like Richard. If you could have seen how messed up she was—”

“That was a
long
time ago. And the fact that she hasn’t had a serious relationship since the divorce is a pretty good sign that she’s not going to fall for just anyone.”

Sydney had a point, but every one of Daniel’s instincts was telling him that he needed to protect his sister. So that was what he planned to do.

Everyone got up late Saturday morning, and after a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon and homemade waffles, the adults got dressed and went for a tour around the cove on Jason’s boat. Lacey stayed at the house to babysit April and was relieved when Jordan took off jogging down the beach. She didn’t like the idea of being stuck alone with him.

She played with April on a blanket in the sand for a while, then gave her a bottle and put her down for a nap. It was weird, but she had half expected to see creepy Fred out there. It seemed as though he was hanging around everywhere she went, spreading his creepiness. When she was picking up trash off the strip mall grass the other day before the mowers went through, she’d seen him hanging out in front of the pub across the street. And when she and Veronica went to get ice cream the other night, he was in line behind them.

He never said anything to her, or even looked at her. She was sure it was just a coincidence, but still it gave her the creeps.

Since she hadn’t taken one that morning, she grabbed a quick shower while April was asleep. Thinking she was still alone in the house, she dried off and wrapped herself in a towel, grabbed her dirty clothes and started down the hall to her room…running face-first into Jordan, who was standing just outside the door.

He was shirtless and sweaty. And so gorgeous she had to remind herself again how much she didn’t like him.

“Took you long enough,” he said.

She glared up at him, clutching the towel to her chest. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a Neanderthal?”

He looked down at her and without warning a lopsided grin spread across his face. It was the first time he’d ever smiled at her, and for a second it actually took her breath away.

He reached out and touched a damp lock of her hair. She had to fight not to flinch. “It’s not green anymore.”

“It’s a gel—it washed out.”

His eyes wandered across her face, in the same slow, precise way he did everything, and she started to feel nervous.

“What are you looking at?”

“You’re pretty without all of that garbage on your face.”

Garbage
on her face? She suddenly remembered who she was talking to and shoved him away. “You’re a jerk.”

He let out a surprised laugh. “I compliment you and you call me a jerk?”

“I’m pretty without the
garbage
on my face. You call
that
a compliment? You don’t even like me. You’re just messing with my head again.”

“Again? When did I ever mess with your head?”

“When you helped me get rid of Shane. You made me believe you liked me.”

His brow lifted, and she realized how that had sounded.

Good going, Lacey. She’d just let him know he’d gotten to her, that she
wanted
him to like her. She tried to push past him but he stepped in front of her.

“Why does it matter if I like you or not?”

“It doesn’t. Now get out of my way.” She tried to get past him again, but he wrapped a large sweaty hand around her forearm. He wasn’t even kissing her this time, and she was getting those funny feelings again.

All
over.

“I don’t understand why you do this,” he said.

“Do what?”

“This.” Jordan reached up his other hand and brushed his finger over the ring piercing her brow. Every inch of her tingled with awareness. “The piercings, the dark makeup. And why do you change your hair weird colors? Why do you do all of this…
garbage
when you look so pretty without it?”

He thought she was pretty? She hated that the idea made her heart beat faster. Why did she care what he thought? He was a creep.

“To be different,” she said.

“Why do you want to be different?”

At first she thought he was being a jerk again, but when she looked into his eyes she could see he genuinely didn’t understand. And for some reason that made her uncomfortable. She lowered her gaze and shrugged. “I don’t know, I just do.”

“There has to be a reason.” He let go of her arm and lifted her chin until their eyes met. His expression was so intense she almost couldn’t stand it. She wasn’t used to anyone looking at her that way, as if he could see right through her. People stared all the time, but they never really
saw
her. And that was exactly the way she liked it. They hit the surface and bounced off.

“I guess I want people to notice me.”

Jordan’s mouth curled up in a grin that made her stomach plummet. “Trust me, people would notice you anyway.”

He ran his thumb over her bottom lip and her heart started slam dancing with her ribs.

She turned her head. “Don’t do that.”

“Why? I like your lip. It always sticks out, like you’re pouting.”

She caught her lip in her teeth. “I should go check on April.”

“Already did. She’s asleep.” He dipped his head, so their mouths were almost touching. She could feel his breath, feel the heat radiating from his body like a furnace.

“Are you going to kiss me?” she asked, but the words came out all soft and breathy.

“Do you always ask first?”

“I don’t like surprises.”

“Maybe I will. But you have to promise me something first.”

Lacey’s heart was beating so hard and fast she felt light-headed. “What?”

“No more weird hair color or crazy makeup.”

All those warm, trembly feelings fizzled away. Just when she thought he was a nice guy, he had to go and
ruin
it.

“Drop dead,” she said, shoving him away. “If you can’t accept me for who really I am, I would rather remove my own skin with a vegetable peeler than kiss you.”

Jordan shook his head, giving her that blank look again. God, she
hated
that.

“As soon as you figure out who that is, you let me know.” With that, he walked past her into the bathroom, and shut the door behind him. She hated to admit it, but the words stung.

When April began to cry several minutes later, Lacey was still standing there.

And Sydney had the sneaking suspicion that whatever it was, Angie was pretty sure Daniel and Jordan weren’t going to like it. Which made Sydney nervous. They’d had a good time so far. She hated to see it ruined.

After dinner, everyone pitched in and helped clean up, and when they were finished, Angie said, “Why don’t we all sit on the porch. Jason and I have something we need to talk to you about.”

Daniel shot a look Sydney’s way, as if he thought she knew what was going on, and she shrugged. Everyone seemed puzzled as they walked out onto the porch.

It was a gorgeous evening. The sun was just beginning to set over the water, reflecting the reddish-orange streaks that spread across the darkening sky.

Sydney and Daniel sat on the swing with April while Jordan and Lacey took chairs on opposite sides of the porch. Angie and Jason leaned against the railing with their backs to the sunset. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Angie cut right to the chase. “Jason and I are getting married.”

Sydney felt Daniel tense beside her.

“That’s great,” Jordan said, looking genuinely happy for his mom. “But I thought you were going to wait until next year.”

“We were,” Angie said.

“So why don’t you?” Daniel asked, in a tone that made his sister flinch.

“Because,” Jason said, “Angie and I are having a baby.”

“Wow,” Jordan said, looking stunned. “I didn’t know you were planning on having kids.”

“We weren’t,” Angie said, glancing at her brother. “This was a big surprise. But now that the shock has worn off, we’re both excited.”

“When did you find out?” Jordan asked.

“I took the test before dinner. Two tests, actually, just to be sure.”

“Excuse me,” Daniel mumbled, pushing off the swing with such force Sydney jerked forward and almost lost her grip on April. He walked into the house, letting the screen door bang shut behind him.

Angie’s face fell, and any trace of joy and excitement disappeared. Though Sydney could tell he was trying to hide it, Jason was clearly angry. “Do you want me to talk to him?” he asked.

Angie shook her head, looking miserable. “It will only make things worse. I guess it was too much to expect him to be happy for me.”

Jordan got up, and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and a big hug. “
I’m
happy for you.”

“So am I,” Sydney said, and Lacey added, “Me, too.”

Angie smiled and wiped away the tear that had escaped down her cheek. “Thanks, everyone. That really means a lot to me.”

“I’m going to go talk to Daniel,” Sydney said, rising from the swing. Someone had to tell him what a jerk he was being. And maybe Angie thought Sydney might be able to reason with him because she didn’t try to stop her.

She passed April to Lacey, then went inside to look for him. But he wasn’t on the main floor. He wasn’t in the bedroom, either. She checked the entire house, but there was no sign of him anywhere. He must have slipped out the back and gone for a walk. And since she had no idea which direction he had taken, she couldn’t go after him.

All she could do was wait.